Divine Anxiety — Our Bible App

Day 1 of 3: Acknowledging Experience

He came out and went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives; and the disciples followed him. When he reached the place, he said to them, “Pray that you may not come into the time of trial.”Then he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, knelt down, and prayed, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me; yet, not my will but yours be done.” [[Then an angel from heaven appeared to him and gave him strength. In his anguish he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down on the ground.]]
-Luke 22:39-44 (NRSV)

We begin this devotional series with this passage from Luke because it reveals, in dreadful physical evidence, the toll that anxiety took upon Jesus’ physical body. Hopefully, it will also allow us to boldly declare the toll anxiety has taken on us. Before we can frutifully talk about Jesus’ anxiety, we have to start with our own experiences.

I have often found myself in an anxious state of emergency. It is a state that breeds a fear which demands immediate and full attention. A fear that, whether rational or not, has caused me to forgo other responsibilities, ignore those around me, and search panickedly for anything to alleviate the complete sense of helplessness and impending doom.

It can be empowering when we understand that during Jesus’s final hours, he felt an intense anxiety like so many of us have to wade through on a daily basis. While Jesus seemed to push through his anxiety in the moment and maintain focus on God, his body revealed the true toll of his anxiety.

The passage from Luke tells us that Jesus was “in his anguish.” In Greek, the word translated to “anguish” is ἀγωνίᾳ (agōnia), which also refers to the feeling of anxiety or fear that an athlete experiences before a contest. In Jesus’s case, though, the contest causing His anxiety should be gravely understood as His impending torture and crucifixion. In our case, the anxiety-inducing contest may be an exam, an important game, a difficult task at work, or anything else that our brain has to confront amid intense stress. All too often, our society encourages us to downplay the immense emotional and physical toll exacted upon us, especially if we achieve a positive outcome after the anxiety (e.g., you ‘aced’ the exam, you won the match, you got that promotion).

But that image of Jesus, kneeling and bloody in the garden, forces us to come to terms with the toll anxiety takes on our mind and body. We can no longer deny the costly toll of his anxiety as Jesus begins to excrete his own blood upon the ground. Here, in the text, we find an invitation to acknowledge this very real, physical toll and share in the experience of Jesus. We no longer have to hide away behind a facade of strength; we can acknowledge that, in whatever degree or form, we feel something of the anxiety Jesus felt there.

Lastly, we can, like Jesus, bear the signs of that anxiety boldly without fearing judgment for a supposed lack of faith, irrationality, or abnormality. Instead, we can recognize that we are actually sharing in a very normal, human experience with our Savior.

Call to Action: Have you been conditioned to downplay the negative effects of your anxiety? Take a moment to reflect, perhaps even journal, on the times in your life when your anxiety has been the highest. What were the consequences of these times? Knowing this, think about how you can be more aware of these negative effects moving forward

Cullen King

Day 1 of 3: Acknowledging Experience

Start reading this 3-day devotional in the app. Find it on the Featured shelf.